


Memory

by ganymedejam



Series: 31 Days of Bloodhound [1]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: 31 Days Of Apex Challenge, Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25065682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganymedejam/pseuds/ganymedejam
Summary: Day 1: Memory.The scars. Bloodhound's new mentor chastises their lack of fortitude.
Series: 31 Days of Bloodhound [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815970
Kudos: 10





	Memory

For years, Bloodhound avoided looking into mirrors and other reflective surfaces as much as possible. The blue scars that webbed across the skin on their face, neck, and hands were a constant reminder of what happened that fateful day. When they were young, their chest would twist in pain and tears would sting at their eyes while seeing their face--not because they felt that they were ugly, but because it was a curse for putting their uncle Artur in danger, which lead to his death. 

The marks of failure. The failure to be honest about their Trial. The failure to fell the beast, which lead to so many deaths that day. The failure of killing it again on their own without help. It was only luck that the raven was there to indicate the coolant pipe that ran along the walls of the bunker Bloodhound had entered to fight the monster again. Only luck that there happened to be a ventilator mask nearby that protected their lungs from the gas. A memory that will live with them until the day they die--and may perhaps follow them in the afterlife as well.

It wasn’t until they found a new mentor who would teach them strength once again. “You cower in the shadow of your scars? Why?” they said in a harsh tone. “You are alive, aren’t you? You survived, didn’t you?”

They circled around Bloodhound, eyeing them sharply. “You follow your Gods, yes? Do you not think they set you on this path for a reason?”

Bloodhound winced as their master continued to lecture them.

“These scars,” they said, gesturing at Bloodhound’s face, “--are a reminder, yes. Of loss. Of pain. Forever in your memories.” Bloodhound’s mouth formed a thin line as they tried to bite back tears stinging their eyes. Their master tilted Bloodhound’s chin up with their fingers, softly like a parent’s guiding touch. They looked into their mentor’s face, their vision watery behind their goggles, and was met with a gaze of harsh understanding in the one eye they had left. Their missing eye was covered with a black patch, only partially obscuring the deep claw marks that extended across the left part of their face.

“I know such pain as well as you do, and more, young one.” they said sternly. “To deny accepting yourself as you are now is also to deny ownership of what it symbolizes. Embrace it and always remember what you lost so you can gain the strength to carry that weight, but not be burdened by it. These scars should be a reminder to you to be forever stalwart.”

“Stop running away.” The master lifted their eye patch with one hand, and Bloodhound heard a frightening, inhuman growl rumble from their master’s chest. The eye beneath the patch--which Bloodhound thought was just an empty socket--glowed a soulful red. “Run toward. See all. See yourself and the path ahead. Your life is yours; it does not belong to the hands of ghosts. You have so much more to do than to preoccupy yourself with mourning the dead. Honor them with your life so they may sleep. The hunt never ends while you still live.”

**Author's Note:**

> I figured Bloodhound would have needed to find a new mentor somehow, and I preferred them to not be someone from Bloth's and Artur's clan. I suspect Bloodhound really doesn't fight similar to their clan, and besides... Bloth needed to learn how shoot from someone. I left their new mentor gender ambiguous and not a follower of the Old Gods to give their words a sense of neutral clarity. That way, Bloodhound can take those words as they are and decide what is destiny and what is a choice in terms of their previous trauma.


End file.
